ASUS Launches the Latest Z7S WS with Superb Expansion Options

Taipei, Taiwan, February 26, 2008 –Catering to users who need a powerful motherboard with high speeds and great expansion slot interface support, ASUS, worldwide leader in motherboard design and production, has today released the Z7S WS workstation motherboard. This innovative motherboard is equipped with dual socket 771 and utilizes the latest Intel® 5400 chipset for vigorous performance. It also supports fully buffered DDR2 800MHz dual-channel memory, dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 lanes; and comes in the compact CEB form factor. With this innovative motherboard, users will enjoy convenient slot expansion and enjoy fast and efficient work efficiency.

High Efficiency with Multiple High Speed Expansion Slots
The multiple slot interfaces increase expansion choices and allows users to obtain high data transmission speeds. Supporting dual PCIe 2.0 x 16 for double the normal bus bandwidth from 2.5 Gb/s to 5.0 Gb/s, users will truly be able to accomplish more tasks in a much shorter time; while enjoying backward compatibility with previous PCIe 1.1 standards. The Z7S WS also showcases PCI-X slots for more convenience on slot expansion, and is able to bring about full speeds for Gigabit Ethernet, SCSI RAID and other PCI-X devices.

Compact Board Size with Dual CPU Support and Rich I/O
The Z7S WS is well equipped with dual CPU sockets, 6 FB-DIMMs, and rich I/O; and still fits into the compact CEB form factor (12” x 10.5”) – allowing users and enthusiasts to build up a small and compact whilst extremely powerful dual CPU workstation system with great performance.

Heat-pipe Solution for Noiseless Environments
Equipped with ASUS’ innovative heat-pipe solution, the Z7S dissipates heat efficiently. The Z7S’s particular heat-pipe design is made to increase durability, life spans and enhance thermal capacity. It also provides highly efficient operations with less heat than traditional heat sink designs.

Exclusive MemCoolTM Support for Enhanced Thermal Solutions
The optional ASUS Patented MemCool Kit maximizes Fully-buffered DIMM performance by eliminating the potential risk of system memory throttling from over-temperature; as well as minimizing the system integration effort of SI for thermal & acoustic solutions.

Easy and Convenient Installations
Users will also enjoy the specially designed “extra” features that come with the Z7S WS. With Q-Connector, users can connect and disconnect chassis front panel cables in one easy step with just one complete module. This unique adapter eliminates the trouble of plugging in one cable at a time – making connections quick and accurate. Secondly, ASUS’ Q-Shield does without the usual "fingers" of traditional gaskets – making it convenient, easy and safe to install without the scratches and cuts like before. The Q-Shield also has better electric conductivity to ideally protect the motherboard against static electricity and shield users against harmful Electronic Magnetic Interference (EMI).

I've fried plenty o' parts when not OCing. Need to start doing it again to avoid problems...

At first it might sound totally sweet, but on second view:
1. There is not enough room between the first two PCI-X expansion slots so no dual-slot cooling for X-fire...
2. The CPU sockets are extremely close together and the chipset heatsinks are so big there's hardly any room for an aftermarket cooling system.

At first it might sound totally sweet, but on second view:
1. There is not enough room between the first two PCI-X expansion slots so no dual-slot cooling for X-fire...
2. The CPU sockets are extremely close together and the chipset heatsinks are so big there's hardly any room for an aftermarket cooling system.

Click to expand...

agreed. using PCI-E blocks the PCI-X (i'm sure SOMEONE cares about that) and the sockets are quite close. quite hard to tell from the pics, but i'm sure two narrow 120mm tower coolers would fit side by side.

At first it might sound totally sweet, but on second view:
1. There is not enough room between the first two PCI-X expansion slots so no dual-slot cooling for X-fire...
2. The CPU sockets are extremely close together and the chipset heatsinks are so big there's hardly any room for an aftermarket cooling system.

Click to expand...

Well, there is only 1 PCI-X slot, I bet you mean PCIe. Besides that the cards will fit, you just lose the PCI-X slot. Which could be replaced by the x8 slot easily, though when using PCI-X controllers like myself x-fire isn't an option.

Besides, there isn't much choice for after market cooling on s771 in the first place.